November 10, 2018
Another Visit to Gale and John’s…
Day 1, Saturday, Home to Gridley, CA via I-5, CA99
I was itching to get back on the road again, if only for a couple of days and a single night. Gale and John’s daughter, Jill, and husband Craig, would be visiting from La Pine, Oregon over the weekend and we certainly wanted to see them. We saw Gale and John’s son, Kevin, our last visit. After my efforts cleaning the coach inside and out over the prior week, we loaded the coach that Saturday morning and headed north.
The so-called “Camp Fire” was raging just 28 miles north of Gridley and had essentially erased the town of Paradise in recent days. The fire covered the valley in smoke. From home all the way to Gridley smoke hung in the air everywhere. Jill and Craig intended to drive into Chico, CA en route to Gridley from their home in Oregon, but the fire had closed their intended road and they had to continue south on I-5.
During our drive north we were passed by perhaps a dozen CHP vehicles as they raced toward the raging fire near Paradise, CA to back up the local sheriff’s office and help with traffic control. Here four of them zoomed by. Note the fog-like conditions created by the ever present smoke that hovered during our entire drive.
The drive was so smokey that most photos I took were not fit to post here. Still, I have posted a few photos of the drive and each one was a bit hazy due to the smoke.
A couple of large birds presented poses that I was lucky enough to capture as I drove; click to enlarge and read their stories:

This Blue Heron flew across the road in front of us, and was startled by Big Blue; he flapped hard as he could to gain elevation and I was lucky enough to have the camera in hand at that moment. Here he is under great stress as he cleared the coach. He pooped in the process and I had to clean the front of the coach when we arrived!
This is a cold storage facility on SR99 south of Live Oak, CA. The place is essentially deserted this time of year, so we pulled in like we owned the place and whipped up lunch aboard. We found yet another Dale’s Diner in the middle of nowhere!
We backed into Gale and John’s driveway about 1300 hours. I spent a while setting up the coach for our stay as Lavonne headed to the house to begin her visit with Gale and Jill.
Big Blue became our cozy apartment for the stay at Gale and John’s.
The menfolk, John and Craig, were shopping for tools in Yuba City’s Harbor Freight store when we arrived. They returned a bit later, and the six of us enjoyed a lovely afternoon catching up with one another’s happenings.
Dinner had already been decided by consensus before we left home; we baked two Papa Murphy’s pizzas that we brought from home. There was so much it looked like there’d be cold pizza for breakfast – if anyone was so inclined.
Dinner is served! And there was plenty of it – two pizzas were too much for the six of us, but John loves the stuff cold. Pictured (L-R) Craig, Jill, John, the twins Dale and Gale, and Lavonne.
(This photo can be enlarged by clicking on it, then supersized by clicking again.)